


When Jake Met Susan

by Jerbic



Category: El Goonish Shive
Genre: Friendship, Love, Nudity, Oral Sex, minor character injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 07:26:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17463179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerbic/pseuds/Jerbic
Summary: In a Alternative Universe EGS,  Jacob Thomas moves to Moperville after the death of his parents.  This is how he comes to meet and interact with the main and minor El Goonish Shive characters and helps Susan with her inhibitions.





	1. Accidental Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the EGS Wiki for help in keeping things straight with the timeline.

Nanase Kitsune and Ellen Dunkel had been successful with their “detective” hobby. They had solved the Mystery of the Mall Jewelry Theft, The Mystery of the Weregoat, and they found and returned the escaped prized lock-picking gorilla to its rightful caretakers. The last one had required a bit of cleanup afterward, by the way. 

They were currently working on tracking down a serial shoplifter. They were posing as angsty teenagers hanging out in the mall allowing them to walk around and observe the shoppers at will. The shoplifter had been described as a tall Caucasian male wearing a long coat over a hoodie. He would grab merchandise, hide it under his coat, and bolt for the exit. He had struck several stores in the mall over the past week. Nanase and Ellen had heard managers talking about it so they decided to see if they could catch the perpetrator. 

They were walking together on the lower mall level in their “disguise”, short skirt, short sleeve shirts, and tennis shoes; typical teenage mall attire even though it had started to turn chilly for an autumn evening. Suddenly they heard someone yell on one of the upper levels “SHOPLIFTER! STOP HIM!” They looked upward and saw a person matching the given description running down the upper concourse toward the exit. Both women took off after him but one floor lower. 

He had to make a right turn and run down another concourse to make the exit. There was a flight of stairs at the turn so Nanase and Ellen took the stairs two at a time. This put them on the same level as the shoplifter, but about sixty feet behind him. He hit the exit door and sprinted across the parking lot. The two women also hit the exit door with a bang. This caused the shoplifter to look behind him and realize he was being pursued, so he increased his running speed to evade them. 

Ellen and Nanase increased their speed also. All three were running at a dead sprint, one to escape, two to capture. He made several sharp turns between buildings in the area to throw them off, but they were gaining. He finally cut into the exit of a parking garage but as he started to run toward the other exit he saw a large male walking down the drive but away from him. The stranger was wearing a coat similar to his, so he decided to use the opportunity. He ducked behind the first car to his left and waited.

Nanase and Ellen rounded the corner a few seconds later and spied the same person walking, also away from them. “GET HIM!” Ellen yelled and both accelerated for the attack. Once they had passed him, the shoplifter ran back out the entrance he had entered and disappeared into the evening.

When the other person heard Ellen yell that he turned to see who they were talking about. To his wide-eyed surprise, it turned out to be him. 

Ellen was in front and performed a jumping side-kick aimed at his head. She expected to knock the “alleged shoplifter” unconscious, retrieve the merchandise, she and Nanase call the police, and then...case closed. What she didn’t expect was for the “alleged shoplifter” to deftly duck her kick, grab her ankle, and sling her into a pile of cardboard boxes ten feet away, stunning her in the process.

Seeing her girlfriend thrown across the garage as such angered Nanase. She was much more adept at martial arts, so she was much more methodical with her attack. She assumed a position that would maximize her ability to attack or defend. To her surprise, so did the stranger. She began throwing punches and kicks at her quarry that would have flattened a normal person; he blocked or deflected them all. 

“Why…are you…doing this?” he asked between blocks. So far he hadn’t thrown any counter punches towards Nanase.  
“Don’t play stupid with us!” shouted Ellen, who had recovered from her impact. She had seen Nanase throw some of her best attack moves at the stranger, yet she hadn’t landed one hit. It was time to do something about that. 

As he turned to look at who had spoken she energized one of her beams that would both impact, and gender transfer. He could see the energy building as her hands became surrounded by plasma and knew he couldn’t dodge both the Asian red head’s attack AND this energy beam. “Aww…SHIT!” he said as he raised both hands in front of him and drained all of the magic from a forty-foot sphere surrounding him. Both women had an extraordinarily surprised look on their faces, then collapsed unconscious to the pavement. 

The man (actually an eighteen-year-old teenager) stood up from his crouched position and took stock of the situation. There were two unconscious women, about his age, crumpled on the concrete. He didn’t know who they were or why they had chosen to assault him. He DID know from the energy he had drained that both were powerful magic users, each in their own right. They were NOT dressed for how chilly it had gotten and his car was on one of the upper levels. Luckily, no one else seemed to be around.  
“Well Jake, what now?” he asked himself.

Jacob Thomas had been in Moperville for a week. He had transferred from the Seattle Washington area after his parents had died. His dad had been a Major in the Marine Corps and flew V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Two years ago his aircraft suffered catastrophic mechanical failure while approaching a carrier in the Aegean Sea and crashed into the water, killing all on board. His mother had taken her husband’s death hard and Jake had to help support her through it and afterward. 

As things began to look better for him and his mother, she was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. As invasive as this type is, you almost have to find it accidentally in its early stages in order to successfully treat it. When hers was found it was already too late. She went through chemotherapy and radiation therapy but it made no difference. She died four months after being diagnosed. That was three months ago. He had turned eighteen just prior to her death. 

Both life insurances and his dad’s military pension had assured that he would be able to afford college and support himself for a very, very long time afterward. In fact, Jake would never have to work a day in his life if he so chose. He did not choose to follow that direction though. He felt he needed to get away from the place that reminded him of so much pain, so he had researched school districts that provided the necessary curriculum he needed to interest him and allow him to graduate. Jake was very book smart and needed advanced placement courses to keep his mind interested. The Moperville High School system was the closest that provided such courses, so here he moved. School was due to start in just under two weeks. 

He rented an apartment near the upscale part of town and moved in. Over the last week, he had enrolled in Moperville High School North. The registrar was impressed at his transcripts and said the school had just what he needed. Afterward, he took care of all the necessities dealing with living on one’s own. Jake had always been a bit of a loner, be it from constantly moving from one Marine base to another, to taking care of his mother during her illness. It was the loneliness of never being to set down roots or forming lasting friendships that made him unhappy being on his own. He was tired of being lonely. He had very little life experience though, and had no one to ask advice of. Researching how to live alone was not the same as asking someone who already knew how to do it through experience. He figured he would be doing this through trial and error; lots of trial and even more error.

Being a powerful magic user didn’t help either. Jake always had to be on his guard not to slip up and reveal his abilities. There were never any other magic users around him as he grew up. His mom and dad were the only ones who knew and they kept it a secret from everyone. They insisted that he do so too. His abilities were multifold…

He healed very quickly so whenever he received any minor injury, he had to fake keeping it much longer than he actually had it. Lately, he had read in his spell book that he was able to heal other’s injuries also. Not Illnesses, just injuries. This angered him because if he had, he could have healed his mother of her cancer, but that was not to be. The book cautioned him on its usage as it could be very dangerous to the wielder. The spell drew power from the user in sufficient amounts to reverse and rebuild whatever injured tissue was present in the receiver. It was all-or-nothing too. Once it began, it continued until the job was complete. If the injury was severe enough, and the wielder did not have sufficient magic for it to complete the healing, the spell drew from other sources in the giver; namely life energy. The spell could potentially be fatal to the giver if the receiver were injured badly enough. 

He also had found that, as a result of magic, his skin excreted a substance that aerosolized immediately and acted like pheromones. In this case though, it affected both genders, male and female. Depending on the situation he could adjust the composition to either attract or repel. The “attract” composition did just that. It caused whoever breathed it to be drawn to him either platonically or sexually. The “repel” composition caused the breather to feel a sense of dread which tended to repel from the source. Both took time to work so that is why he didn’t use either on Nanase or Ellen. It also tended not to work well in open areas where the aerosols were quickly diluted by open space or air currents. 

The last spell he possessed was the drainage spell. He could drain magic from a specified area surrounding him. This was a strong protection spell that manifested itself several years before. He couldn’t absorb the drained magic, just banish it from the area. This was the spell he used on Ellen and Nanase. If drained suddenly enough, it caused the person to immediately go into magic burnout, resulting in them passing out.

Nanase woke first, slowly and painfully, followed almost immediately by Ellen. Both were laid out on flattened cardboard boxes and covered with a heavy coat. Jake had moved them behind a concrete wall into a storage area, laid them on the boxes to keep them off the frigid concrete floor, and covered them with his coat to keep them warm. After completing this, he sat on a stack of boxes to await their arousing. He hoped it wouldn’t be long as he was getting chilly wearing just a thin outer vest over his clothes. He really hadn’t planned on being assaulted by two pretty girls.

Upon awakening, both women were very groggy and dizzy. Having all magic suddenly removed from your person can be traumatic. They sat up slowly and saw the person they thought was the shoplifter sitting facing them. Neither could move quickly so both decided that attack probably wasn’t the best option. 

“What did you do to us?” Nanase asked slowly.  
“Under the circumstances, what I did to you is not as important to me as to why you attacked me in the first place” Jake replied.  
“Who are you?” Ellen asked somewhat angrily. Nanase placed her hand on Ellen’s arm and squeezed to silence her. She did not want him to repeat what he had done to them. Her actions were not unnoticed by Jake.  
From what he could discern in the short time he had met them, the brown-haired one seemed to be the hot head and the Asian redhead seemed the most reasonable. He decided to try a different tack. “OK ladies, he said, let’s begin again, only this time I’ll start”.

Jake introduced himself to Ellen and Nanase and told his story of how he came to be in Moperville. He told them he was walking to his car when the pair of them accosted him. He revealed he had multiple advanced degrees in martial arts and used that to defend himself until Ellen attempted to use magic. Then he had no choice but to do what he did. Once he had gone through this explanation, he repeated his question to Nanase as to why they attacked him.

“We thought you were a shoplifter”, she said. She proceeded to tell him about what they had been doing at the mall and what had transpired after the chase had begun.  
“Well…I doubt a criminal would have hung around to make sure the two of you woke up safely, he replied, so please believe me when I tell you that I’m not the person you were pursuing. This isn’t the greatest section of town, and neither of you is exactly dressed to lose the fight you were just in’ if you catch my drift”. He asked where their coats were and they answered in their car at the mall…three blocks away. Jake could only face-palm and shake his head slowly with frustration.

He asked if they were able to stand. Ellen jumped up and immediately fell down again as Jake warned both of them to rise slowly. He said the effects of drainage lasted for a while so they needed to be careful with any sudden position change. He took each woman’s hand and helped them up. They were both very unsteady on their feet and needed support from each other as well as Jake to stand and walk. He suggested they wait here while he retrieved his vehicle and drive them to their car but Ellen refused. She said she wasn’t getting into a car with a stranger in her and Nanase’s condition.  
“OK, Jake said, I’ll walk with you to the mall and make sure you get to your car, then I'll walk back here for mine. Deal?” They agreed.  
His coat had fallen off as they had arisen from the pavement. The longer they stood talking, the colder the women became. Jake saw that both were beginning to shiver so he took his coat and wrapped it around the two of them to their mutual gratitude. 

The walk to the car took much longer than any of them thought it would. They had to stop frequently to rest as the girls were really in no shape to do what they were trying to do. Jake would have liked to pick up the pace a bit as he also was getting chilled. They saw him shivering and felt guilty about keeping his coat, but he refused its return when they offered to give it back. By the time they reached their car, both Ellen and Nanase were exhausted; neither in any shape to drive home. 

“Alright guys, Jake exclaimed, gimme the keys.” Both girls protested this, but he pointed out that they were both dead on their feet, and weren’t going to get better tonight. He was the only one capable of driving them home. The only alternative was to call their parents to pick them up. Nanase immediately vetoed this idea as she didn’t want to face the wrath of her mother. Ellen said her parents were out for the evening and she didn’t want to disturb them. The same for her brother. He was on a date with his girlfriend Sarah.  
“Well, I’m not going to just leave you here!” he declared. “I suspect both of you are very strong normally, but right now neither of you could punch your way out of a wet paper bag. I made you this way so I’m responsible for your safety.”  
They finally agreed to be driven to Ellen’s house. There they could wait for her parents or Elliot to get home. Then one of them could drive him back to the parking garage to get his car. To Jake, this seemed the most sensible idea, so he agreed.

So Jake drove the intrepid detectives to Ellen’s house. When they arrived they saw that Mr. and Mrs. Dunkel had already arrived before them. He supported both women to the door and rang the bell. Mrs. Dunkel answered the door, saw the shape that both Nanase and Ellen were in, and exclaimed “Oh. My. God. What. Happened!?”  
An hour, and a long explanation later, Jake had covered the evening's happenings. Ellen’s parents had put both girls to bed and called the Kitsune home to let them know Nanase would be spending the night. Mr. Dunkel had called Edward Verres to verify both girls would be alright as a result of the draining of energy and he said that they should recover quickly as he was familiar with this type of spell.  
Both Dunkel parents asked if Jake needed to call his folks to let them know where he was. He sadly told them of his situation. Mr. Dunkel said “Oh wow son, we’re so sorry!” to which Jake replied “me too sir…me too.”

Mr. Dunkel drove him back to his vehicle in the garage. On the way, they had a chance to talk. He thanked Jake for making sure the girls had gotten home safely. Jake replied that he felt it was his responsibility to do so. The conversation then turned to other things.  
“It’s such a relief to have other people with magic around me, Jake began. Even though mom and dad told me there were others out there, I couldn’t help feeling like I was the only one. I felt I had to really hide my spells so regular people wouldn’t come after me with torches and pitchforks and stuff.” It was really hard at times hiding in plain sight. I had to go to school and be around other kids because it would have been suspicious if they had tried to keep me hidden. At the same time, I had to really be cautious when I did so I wouldn’t give anything away.”  
“Well Jake, Mr. Dunkel replied, there are a lot more kids your age with magic like yours here. You will still need to be on your guard and not publicly display any abilities you have, but you aren’t alone in this.” This made Jake feel better.


	2. Good Deeds

Over the next few days, Jake began to get ready to start his senior year at Moperville North. He had registered for classes and would be taking Advanced Physics, Organic Chemistry, Differential Calculus, Advanced Placement Literature, Advanced Governmental Studies, and a study hall. He needed some new clothes to replace those he had worn out over the last year so he went to the mall to do some shopping. 

He stopped in several clothing stores that specialized in tall people. Being 6’3’’ sometimes made finding clothes that fit, difficult. He had dropped his purchases off at his car and was walking to the food court. As he passed by a gift shop he felt a person run into him from the side. They bounced off the immovable object they hit (him) and fell to the floor.

Ted Verres had been looking for the perfect gift for his girlfriend, Grace Sciuridae. She had always had a thing for figurines, especially unusual ones, so he had been to multiple gift shops around Moperville looking for the one he know she would love. It turned out to be more difficult than he had figured. Most were way out of his price range. You can only save so much, so quickly on an allowance, so he didn’t have a great deal to spend. In the mall, he finally found the “PERFECT” one! It was a crystal unicorn. Ted had been clandestinely asking Grace what type of figurines she liked, and she mentioned she didn’t have a unicorn, so…a unicorn it was going to be. The store had one for forty dollars. The cashier wrapped it in thick paper and placed in a bag. Ted was excited as he was going to give this to Grace today when she met him at the mall. He literally ran out the entrance to the store, and immediately into a walking wall that happened to be passing by.

“Woah there big guy!” the wall said. Jake had felt the impact and turned to see a smallish male fall to the floor. Ted had literally bounced off him and fell sprawled to the floor. Jake bent down to help him up but Ted cringed and said “Don’t Hurt Me!” in a loud voice which caused Jake to be taken aback. “Why…would you think I would do something like that?” he said incredulously. Jake bent down and took Ted’s hand and helped him to his feet.

Across the food court were Elliot, Sarah, and Susan, all waiting for Ted to come out of the store and meet them while they waited for Grace. They saw Ted impact this really big looking guy and fall to the floor, followed by the stranger turning toward him and bending down. When the heard Ted yell, all three of them jumped up and headed over. Elliot was in front with murder in his eyes as he thought his friend was being bullied.

After helping Ted up Jake said…”Someone’s picked on you before, haven’t they? I’ve never done that.” He took Ted’s right hand in his and shook it. “My name’s Jake, Jake Thomas”.  
“I’m Ted Verres,” Ted replied.  
The three friends were almost within striking distance when they saw Jake shake Ted’s hand. They stopped mid-stride and stared as the stranger bent down and picked up their friend’s bag and handed it to him. He then walked calmly to the Italian restaurant on the other side of the food court. Ted stared after him as he left, then went to his friends who peppered him with questions of what happened. 

Jake had ordered and sat down to eat when he looked over and saw the little guy with three friends sit down across the court. “It must be nice to have friends like that”, he thought as he remembered that the three of them were going to take on someone of his size to protect the little guy. 

When Ted sat down he put the bag on the table and was immediately horrified to hear the sound of broken glass within.  
“OH NO, OH NO, OH NO”…he could only keep saying. “I must have landed on it when I fell”, he said pitifully. He opened the bag and unwrapped the paper and saw the carnage within. The crystal piece was shattered into multiple fragments and could not be repaired. Ted was heartbroken. “I can’t replace this, he said. I spent all I had to get this one, and Grace is going to be here soon.” He held his head in his hands.  
Sarah said she would take care of this and marched right over to where the stranger was eating lunch.

She walked up in front of him, placed her hands on her hips and said…“When my friend was knocked down by you he broke something very precious to him”, she declared angrily to Jake, who had a surprised look on his face.  
Jake looked at her, then at Ted, got up and walked over to their table. When he stood, Jake towered over the small blonde who had addressed him. Close up he seemed a lot bigger than from a distance so Sarah took a cautious step backward, then followed him to the table.  
“Oh Man, Ted thought, what has Sarah started?” as he saw the big guy headed their way. 

Both Elliot and Susan tensed for a confrontation but were surprised when Jake took a seat next to Ted and asked him what had been broken. Ted showed him the figurine. It was a disaster area. He could guess that it would have been a gift for somebody so Jake asked where Ted had gotten it and he pointed the store out to him. With that, Jake got up and headed to the store, to the surprise of everyone at the table. 

On entering the store, he explained to the clerk about the broken figurine. She said she was sorry but that it had been the only in that particular price in the store. He asked if there were others that were similar and she showed him several that were considerably higher quality and definitely more expensive.  
Ted was telling his friends that he didn’t think the gift could be replaced because he hadn’t seen any others like it in the store. After a few minutes, Jake appeared at the exit carrying a bag. He walked over to Ted and said that he had been able to find a replacement for the broken one, and handed the bag to Ted. Ted said that he couldn’t pay him for this but Jake just said…”Look, without getting into a lot of detail, the last few years have been really lousy for me. Being able to do this goes a long way to make it better. Please let me do this for you.”  
He sounded so sad at saying this that Ted couldn’t say no and accepted the gift. The other three could only look at each other silently as he walked back toward his table.  
“Wait, called Sarah…what’s your name?”  
Jake turned and smiled…”Jake…my name’s Jake,” he said, and walked back to his table, deposited his trash in the trash can, and left.

The four friends were flabbergasted at what just occurred. This was broken by the arrival of Grace who rushed up and hugged Ted. He said he had a present for her, just because…  
Grace opened the bag and unwrapped the package within. Her mouth flew open and she said that it was perfect, and that it was something she had always wanted. There, unwrapped in her hands, was an exquisite crystal unicorn. The crystal gathered the light around it and reflected brilliantly in all directions. 

Susan’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the figurine. She asked Grace if she could hold it for a minute. She handled it carefully as she turned to over to look at the provenance on the base and was satisfied that she had been correct, then she gave it back. 

Susan advised Grace to be very careful as this was very delicate, to which Grace assured her that she would. As they left she asked Ted, to the side, that if he didn’t mind telling, how much he paid for the first figurine?  
He replied that he had paid forty dollars, plus tax. Susan nodded, then told him that what he had just given Grace was a limited edition Waterford Crystal figurine worth about four hundred dollars. Ted stopped dead in his tracks. “Why did he do that?” he asked. Susan answered that she didn’t know, but she intended to find out.


	3. New Friends

The first day of Senior Year arrived and so did the students of Moperville North. Catalina Bobcat wasn’t looking forward to another year of detentions. Catalina had a big mouth; a big heart too, but a big mouth nevertheless, and it tended to get her in trouble with the Principal of MVHSN. Her current curse word was to call somebody, generally males, a “JACKASS”. Yes…she tended to shout this in the middle of crowds. She simply couldn’t help it. She had settle for her current epithet because the others she used to use got her in way too much trouble in the past. Catalina had the outlook that all males were jerks unless proven otherwise. That, paired with being an open lesbian tended to put her on the bad side of the school bullies. With each being around the other it was like adding gasoline to a fire and it was never pretty. 

Everyone was heading to their homeroom areas. Catalina was looking to see if she saw any of her friends, like Susan or Sarah in the hallway. Suddenly a loud obnoxious voice rang out behind her…”WOOP!…WOOP!…LESBO ALERT!…WOOP!…WOOP! It was Tony, the jock jerk who was constantly making Catalina the butt of his homophobic jokes. She absolutely despised Tony. 

“Fuck off Jackass!” she replied loudly, as she continued to walk away.  
“Not with you, I won’t Lesbo!” Tony shot back and gave her a shove from behind.  
The shove caused Catalina to lose her footing and she fell to the hallway floor right in the middle of the crowd of students. You could have heard a pin drop. The combination of Tony’s insults coupled with the embarrassment of being shoved down caused Catalina to angrily cry right there. “You Son of a Bitch”, she hissed through tears.  
“Ooooo… look, he replied, I made the little lesbo cr…AAAAAAAAAK!” 

Tony never got to finish that sentence as a large hand had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pinned him with his back against a bank of lockers. Facing him, and holding him so that his toes were the only thing touching the floor, was the face of a very angry Jake Thomas.   
Jake moved his face so that it was mere inches from Tony’s. “That wasn’t very nice what you did.” He hissed softly. The crowd had moved away from the two. Even though things had gotten very quiet in the hallway, Jake had pitched his voice so that only Tony and Catalina could hear it. At the same time, he released a generous portion of the “repel pheromone” and Tony was the primary target of its effects. Filled with a sudden sense of fear and dread all he could do is stare wildly into the eyes of the big guy in front of him, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Catalina was stupefied at what happened. No one had ever taken up for her like this before and all she could do is remain sitting.

Jake told Tony that he better not EVER see him treat someone smaller than him like that again or he would live to regret it. He said that he also better NEVER see Tony push a girl around again. Tony made the mistake of trying to justify his lousy actions by saying…”but she’s a le…”   
“IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!” Jake shouted back. “You will NOT treat her, or any girl like that…DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND?” 

All Tony could do is nod quickly in response.

“Now I think you should apologize to the lady.”

Tony looked incredulous at this statement.

“I’m sorry, continued Jake, that may have sounded like a request but it wasn’t. I meant to say, I think you need to apologize to the lady…NOW!” He added another dose of “repel pheromone” just for good measure.  
You wouldn’t think Tony’s eyes could have gotten any wider, but they did. Jake released him and stepped backward and out of the way so Tony was looking directly at Catalina, still sitting on the floor.

“I…I’m…sorry, he stammered”. He then looked at Jake, who nodded back, and he turned and disappeared into the crowd, to applause from some of the bystanders.

Jake turned and helped Catalina to her feet. She didn’t know how to act around him as no guy had ever helped her like this before. She gave a meek “thank you” to him, then hugged him around the chest as she was too short to do it around his neck.

Jake returned the gesture with a gentle smile which helped to put her at ease. “Don’t worry about it”, he said gently. As he turned to leave she asked what his name was. He replied simply…”Jake Thomas, Pleased to meet you.”

Susan had heard the commotion and walked over to see what had happened. She arrived just as Tony was apologizing. She saw Catalina in the floor, Tony leaving with his tail between his legs, Jake helping Catalina to her feet, her hug, and the parting of the two. 

“Who IS this guy!?” she asked herself.

The first class of the day went well for Susan. It was Advanced Placement Literature and she had already read most of the books that were being covered that semester. She entered her next class, Differential Calculus feeling a little more trepidation. Susan had always been good at math, but this was entirely different. She knew she was going to have to concentrate on this one to do well.

She sat at the front in the second row from the left. As she took her seat she saw the object of her curiosity walk into the class. He walked past her and took the first seat in the far left row. As he sat down he noticed Susan sitting beside him and said playfully “Oh, hello you. I remember you from the mall the other day. You’re one of Ted’s friends. I’m Jake Thomas.” He said and extended his hand. 

“I’m Susan Pompoms, Susan replied, and sorry, but I don’t shake hands.” 

“Oh…? “Jake replied pulling his hand back and lifting one eyebrow questioningly.

“It's complicated”, replied Susan to the implied question. “May I ask you a question?”

“I think you just did!” Jake replied wryly. 

“Oh, tur-Hur! tur-Hur! tur-Hur!” Susan answered back sarcastically.

“Ooooh...Snarky! I like that!” he said.

“No...seriously, continued Susan, blushing a bit at the compliment. Why did you replace Ted’s statue with one so much more expensive?”

Suddenly they were interrupted by the teacher saying class needed to get started.

“I'll tell you when we're done here,” Jake said quickly as they began the class.

Susan was hopeful that, based on the first day, her calculus class would be not only bearable but interesting as well. As they walked out she met Jake at the door and they talked as they walked. “OK, out with it!” she said.

Jake simply repeated what he had told Ted.

He did say that he had expected to be able to purchase one of equal price when he entered the store. When the clerk told him that none of that price range was available, he felt he couldn't leave empty-handed. So… He went to the next price range and purchased the figurine. He asked Susan how she had known the price of the unicorn. She replied that she was familiar with Waterford statuary, and actually had several pieces at her home.

Susan asked if he had been really able to afford the purchase. Jake replied that he wouldn't have bought it if he hadn't been able to, and that it had seemed to be the right thing to do. 

They had different classes for the next period, so they parted at Susan's room. She DID ask if he wanted to eat lunch with her and her friends and he replied that he'd love to and would meet her in the cafeteria.

At lunchtime they met and sat at a table with Sarah, Ted, and Elliot. He recognized everyone as having been at the mall previously. When Jake got a good look at Elliot's face he was a bit startled. He looked just like the brown haired hot head from two weeks ago! 

Ted thanked Jake for the way he replaced Grace's figurine. He said he should not have paid what he did. Jake just shrugged and said that it had been the right thing to do and not to worry about it, and he left it at that.

They spent lunch telling about each of themselves to give Jake a little background on each at the table. Elliot and Sarah pretty much repeated their stories from last year when they had done this before. Ted told him about his girlfriend Grace and that she lived with him and his father. Susan told about her full name and her parent's divorce. 

When it came Jake's turn he asked them to ask him something to tell as he didn't know what to choose from.

“How long have you been using magic?” Elliot asked in a voice low enough for all at the table to hear, but no one else.

This question caused Jake to choke on the drink he was swallowing. After his coughing fit had subsided, he looked at the four of them incredulously. Each was looking at him with expectation. 

“Why...would you ask a question like that?” he asked as evasively as possible.

“Because, replied Sarah, everyone at this table either uses magic or has intimate knowledge of it.”

“AND, continued Elliot, my sister Ellen and Nanase Kitsune, whom I believe you met previously, described you exactly as you are. The also told us how you stayed with them and helped them even after they tried to beat you up. They wanted to thank you for what you did, but they were too weak at the time and didn't know how to find you once they felt better.

He was definitely Ellen's brother, Jake thought. The two looked almost identical, right down to the shark fin cowlick on the back of their heads.

Jake picked his words carefully, remembering what his parents had told him in the past, but also remembering Mr. Dunkel's words about not being alone with this anymore.

"I started being able to do magic about age seven, he said. There were a group of older military brats who were bullying me because I was small. All of a sudden they stopped and acted afraid of me. They all ran away and didn't bother me again. That's when I found out that I could repel people with magic. Not physically mind you, but emotionally, which seems to be stronger."

"I told mom and dad about it and they wanted me to try it again, but with them...and I DID!" "They had to leave the room until the effects wore off, Jake continued. It really upset me that they couldn't come around me until they felt better. I learned to control it so I wouldn't always hit with it full force. It was about this time that I got my spell book too."

"Dad insisted that I take martial arts courses so I wouldn't need to use that spell unless really necessary. I found out I was good at it, so I continued in several disciplines until I got advanced black belts in all of them." 

This last information seemed to impress Elliot. He knew that martial arts training like that ingrained the desire to avoid a fight unless absolutely necessary.

Jake continued by saying..."At around age ten, I read in my book that I had the ability to drain magical energy from other users. I can't absorb and use the power I drain, but I banish it from a specific area around me so the other users can't use it either. If I do it rapidly enough, it will cause them to temporarily pass out. That's what I used on your sister and her friend when they "attacked" me, for lack of a better word. I don’t like to use that one because I'm always afraid someone might hurt themselves as they fall, but I really didn't have a choice. To be honest, if magic hadn't come into the fight, we would have continued physically, and I possibly could have de-escalated the situation."

They all seemed to contemplate that last statement. Jake didn't tell them about his healing ability, either on himself or others.

He figured that Mr. Dunkel had told Ellen and Elliot about the deaths of his parents as the subject didn't come up, to his relief.

Susan DID ask what happened that morning with Tony and Catalina. Jake explained that Tony was saying very unkind things about her and shoved her down. He felt he had to step in to correct the situation, and he did so; end of incident.

Elliot said that Tony had always been a first class jerk, generally to everyone who wasn't like him, and he had found it necessary to pound him down on several occasions. Susan said that she had to “hammer the fool” several times due to comments made about her.

“Hammer?” inquired Jake.

“One of my magic abilities, replied Susan. I can summon large hammers to ‘Thwack’ males who disparage females. It stuns them for a while and is painful, but really has no lasting effects.”

“I'll remember that in the future should I get the urge to disparage you”, quipped Jake. Susan smiled at the joke.

“I really don't think that will be an issue”, she said in return.

The others at the table were getting interested with the direction the conversation was heading.

“Why, thank you”, replied Jake with a smile.

“You are most welcome!” replied Susan, smiling back.

They were interrupted by the bell signaling then end of lunch. As they went their separate ways, Sarah caught up with Susan.

“You two seem to be hitting it off well”, she said to her friend.

“I don’t know what you mean”, Susan replied evasively, at the same time blushing.

“Don't try to play innocent with me Susan Pompoms!” Sarah returned. Your blush tells me you know exactly what I'm talking about!”

Susan stopped and thought for a moment. Sarah was one of her best friends. If she couldn't confide in her, then who?

“OK, you win, she confessed. I do think he's cute, but you have to not tell anyone I said that”.

“What the HELL for!? asked Sarah incredulously. He’s nice, he's good looking and he seems to like you a lot! Why can't I tell the others?”

“Because I don't know what to do with it”, Susan replied dejectedly.

“What do you mean ‘you don't know what to do with it?” Sarah asked.

“You know I don't date”, replied Susan as if that explained it all.

“Well GIRL...replied Sarah, maybe you need to start. If EVER there seemed to be someone perfect for you, it's him. From listening to him and hearing what he has done, he seems to be sensitive, kind, and caring. He's also good looking and really seems to like you. I think you could do MUCH worse and I wouldn't wait a long time to decide. Somebody else will snatch him up.”

“Look, continued Sarah, I know the thought of getting close to someone, either physically or emotionally scares the hell out of you, but you need to start taking chances. You are missing so much by not.”

If anyone other than Sarah or her close group of girlfriends (Justin included) had said this, Susan would have gone off like a Roman Candle, but because she WAS one of her best friends, and only concerned about her happiness, she cut her a lot of slack with this conversation.

They parted at their next class.


	4. Taking Chances

4\. Taking Chances  
Over the next several weeks, school continued without incident. Tony kept a very low profile after his confrontation with Jake and didn't cause any trouble for either Ted or Catalina. Susan and Jake were friendly to each other but kept it low key. They ate lunch together almost daily, either just the two of them, or with the rest of the group. Elliot, Sarah and Ted kept the Moperville South contingent; Nanase, Ellen, Grace, and Justin, informed of the status of the two. Ellen told Elliot that Grace had a grin on her face constantly. 

Jake had asked several people about Susan and was essentially told that she refused to date anyone, to the point that some felt she was a lesbian. This was said in such a way as to not be perceived as gay-bashing, just an explanation. Jake asked what had caused this but no one had a real reason. He wondered if her parent’s divorce may have had anything to do with it, but no one he talked to could answer.

One Monday Catalina met Jake in the morning, and with all the subtlety of a brick through a plate glass window, asked him why he hadn't asked Susan out. 

“Because she has repeatedly told her friends and those who HAVE asked her that she doesn't date”, Jake replied. “When someone says no, they mean NO, and I don't want to blow what friendship I have with her by seemingly pressuring her into something she doesn't want to do. I like Susan a LOT, and I don't care who knows, but she hasn't given me any hints about wanting to take what is there to a higher level. She’s pretty much calling the shots here. 

“Look, Jake, she declared, I'm a lesbian; I like women and at one time I asked Susan out. I wished it had happened, but it didn't, but I can see you two are good for each other. Susan lights up when you are around her, more so than anyone else I've seen. She smiles a lot more since she met you, and that's saying a lot.” We were all worried about her for a while because she was always angry due to her dad. I know I think men are jerks, present company excluded of course.”

“Of course!” quipped Jake sarcastically. 

“Susan used to feel that way too, she continued. She changed this year when she started hanging out with Ted and Elliot at lunch. Ted really went out on a limb for her one day and helped her in a way I couldn't. She and Elliot worked together over the summer and started making movie critique videos together. They are really good, by the way. She has said she is attracted to men. I think she has a lot of trouble expressing it with people she's not comfortable with. Matt Cohen asked her out at the end of last year and I think it scared her. Talking to her at the Feminist Club meetings makes me believe she has real trust issues, on top of her touch issues.”

“You care about her a lot, don't you? asked Jake. All Catalina could do is nod. 

“You are a good friend Catalina, he continued. I'll think about what you said.”

Later that day she cornered Susan after their Feminist Club meeting. She asked her what she thought of Jacob Thomas.

“I...think he is a nice person, Susan answered. He's quiet, polite, very intelligent, and he cares about people, especially people who need help. Why would you ask that?”

“He likes you Susan, I mean a lot! He wants to ask you out, but is afraid to.”

“Oh...replied Susan, and how do you know that?”

“I cornered him this morning and asked what was taking so long for him to do it”, she answered.

“CATALINA!” Susan said with surprise.

“I know, I know...she replied. I'm like a bull in a china shop when it comes to stuff like this, but you're my best friend, and I don't have many. I want you to be happy.”

“And what makes you think I'm not?” replied Susan.

“I don’t, Susan, Catalina said. I just see that you are so much more “up” when you're around him; you smile more, and you enjoy life more, that's all. That’s the only way I can describe it. If I didn't think it was good for you, I wouldn't have said anything to either of you. He's asked other people about you, and their answer was always “Susan doesn't date”, so he didn't want to risk messing up the friendship the two of you have by trying to push you into something he thinks you don't want to do, that’s all. He also told me that he hasn’t asked because you haven’t given any kind of hints that you were interested.”

“I don’t even know what that means!” said an exasperated Susan.

“That’s my point! Catalina said equally exasperated. You don’t know how to flirt, or anything. I don’t even date guys and I know that. It worked with the girl I’m dating, it should work just as well with you if you really want to, and are willing to take a chance. THAT’S IT! You have to be willing to take a chance and trust him.

Susan was surprised at the passion that Catalina was showing with this. She WAS making sense with it though, and was touched that her friend was taking such a chance by saying the things that she was.

“Did you tell him you were going to talk to me? She asked.

“What…hell to the no! Catalina replied sarcastically. I don’t conspire with the enemy, you know that!”

“Yeaaah…Susan replied. Well…Don’t, I need some time to think about this. Catalina hugged her friend with a glomp hug before she realized what she had done. “Oh, Oh, Oh!” she said.

“It’s OK Catalina, Susan said with a smile, I’ll let you live this time.

Susan had a lot on her mind that night, so she didn’t sleep a lot. She kept going over her conversation with Catalina over and over in her mind. 

“Is this something I want to do?” she kept asking herself. 

“Am I happy the way I am, or do I just want to be comfortable by playing it safe?’

“Do I want to take a chance, and maybe have some fun?”

“Do I want to be in a relationship if things work out?”

“What if he wants to do THINGS with me; would I be comfortable doing THINGS with him?”

These were all important questions to her that she just had to answer, but couldn’t.

She finally dozed off about two o’clock the morning, but slept fitfully. She finally relaxed about four am.

Her alarm woke her at six. When she got up she felt tired but as if things had sorted themselves out. It was such a weird feeling for her. BUT…she knew what she was going to do.

She drove to school that morning going over in her mind what she wanted to say. She saw Jake’s car pull into the parking lot after she had parked so she waited for him to walk over.

“Good morning! he said cheerily. How are you today?”

“I’m good Jake”, she partially lied. She had slept like crap and her stomach was doing flip-flops. “May I ask you a question…and DON’T say I just did.”

“Sure Susan”, Jake answered. He was curious about what was coming.

Susan took a deep breath and let it out to relax her nervousness, then she asked…”Would you like to go on a date this Friday?

…”I...would love to”, he answered.

 

Susan confided to Sarah and Catalina that she had asked Jake out and he had accepted, to the mutual “SQUEEEEEEEE!” of both.

Susan and Jake agreed to dinner and a movie for the date. They picked “Gravity” because neither had seen it. For dinner Jake had Susan pick the restaurant.

 

Wednesday before their date arrived and as Jake arrived at school he saw Susan waiting for him in the parking lot, not looking the least bit happy. 

“Oooh Boy...what's going on?” he thought to himself.

When he walked up to her he asked what was wrong.

“My mother wants to meet you before we go out Friday”, she said.

“OK, he said. I'll come a little earlier than I planned. I wanted to introduce myself to her anyway. 

“No Jake, Susan replied, she wants to meet AND talk to you; just the TWO of you.”

“Oh…”Jake could only say. 

“She wanted you to come over either tonight or tomorrow, she continued, and I got the feeling that ‘No’ wasn't an option.”

“Oh…”Jake could only say.

After he composed himself a bit Jake continued…”Did she say what she wanted to talk about?”

“She wants to know your intentions toward me, Susan replied. I told you that my parents were divorced when I was a lot younger, but I didn't tell you why. I think you need to know before you and her get together so at least you can be prepared. He cheated on her; brought another woman into our house, slept with her in their bed, while I was in the house too. I walked in on them while they were there. He tried to convince me not to tell mom. She had been visiting her sister who had been injured and came home the next day. I told mom what had happened. It really injured both of us. Mom never forgave him and they got divorced. I haven't seen him in years. Mom has had a really negative outlook on men since then.”

“I can't say I blame her, replied Jake. Not with something happening to her like that. I'm surprised you don't have feelings like that.”

Susan didn't say anything in reply.

“Please tell her that I'll be happy to come over, he said. Tonight will be fine if it's alright with her.”

During the day Susan confirmed with her mother that tonight was acceptable. She gave her address and phone number to Jake. 

He arrived at the Pompoms home at seven pm. Jake suspected Susan came from wealth, but he was shocked at the size of her house when he pulled up in front. Hers had to be one of, if not THE largest homes in the Snoot Creek subdivision. She lived in a three story mansion! There were hotels that weren’t this big. He parked, walked to the door and rang the bell. 

Ms. Pompoms answered the bell and invited Jake into the house. She was smaller than Jake had imagined, and very pretty. He suspected there was steel under the surface and a force to be reckoned with.

“Good evening young man, she said pleasantly. I’m Judith Pompoms, Susan’s mother.”

“Hello ma’am, Jake replied. I’m Jacob Thomas.”

She invited Jake to come to the living room with her where they could talk together comfortably. As he left the foyer Jake stopped and looked around him at the size and opulence of the house he was in. Ms. Pompoms noticed he had stopped and asked if anything was wrong.

“No ma’am, nothing wrong… he answered, I’ve just never been in a home this large before. I’ve been mostly used to military housing both on, and off base. It was never this large or nice. My apartment could fit in this one area alone.”

She apologized for his discomfiture and directed him to a smaller area he assumed was the living room. It still made any living room he had been in before seem tiny.

“I wanted us to be acquainted with each other as you wish to date my daughter, she continued. Susan hasn’t dated before and I wanted to know the type of person that she would be with. She is my only child and very important to me you see.”

“Yes ma’am, I understand that”, Jake replied.

“Do you now!? Judith came back immediately. And how do you understand how I feel with this?”

Jake had the feeling like he was being stalked by a tigress, so he simply told the truth…

“Susan told me about your divorce ma’am, not just that it happened, but HOW it happened. I didn’t pressure her to do that, she brought it up herself. So I understand that you are leery about someone wanting to be in a relationship with her. You are worried that someone may hurt her, and I get that. In my opinion, you have every right to be concerned, and if what had happened to you had happened to me, then I suspect I would too.” “I don’t know what I can do to allay your concerns. To be honest, I… don’t have any experience with this either, you see, this is my first date too.”

This information surprised Judith. She had assumed Jake was “experienced” with relationships. Jake was tall, handsome, intelligent, confident, and articulate. To learn he was as green with this as Susan was a shock, and a bit of a game changer.

“Please excuse this if I say it badly, Judith continued, but why have you waited until now to begin dating? You certainly seem capable of being in relationships before now.”

“Ms. Pompoms, Jake began, I was really hoping to avoid having to answer this question because it is a very painful subject for me, but if it will help you understand me better, so be it.” So Jake began his story…

“Two and a half years ago my dad was killed in an aircraft accident. He was a Marine Corps pilot and was deployed in the Aegean. His aircraft crashed into the water as it approached his carrier group and he was killed. I was almost sixteen at the time. Mom didn’t do well with the news at all. She went into a deep depression that lasted almost a year. She was unable to function except on a very low level. She could bathe and dress herself, do minor things around the house, but I had to do the cooking, cleaning, laundry, provide her medication, and pay the bills. On top of that, I still had school, homework and everything else someone my age had to do. I really had no time for a personal life. As the year went on, she began to get better. She started to smile again and be much more upbeat about things. She also started having pain in her left stomach. She waited several months to tell me so I didn’t know about it until I came home from school and found her doubled over on her bed. We were living in Seattle at the time. I took her to the Emergency Department where they did a whole bunch of tests and x-rays to see what was going on.”

Judith noticed that his eyes were beginning to mist over as he told her this.

“They found a large tumor on her pancreas that they said was surely cancer. The biopsy confirmed it. It was advanced and needed immediate treatment, they said. They couldn’t give us any promises as to a cure, only treatment to slow the progression and spread. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments. These made her violently sick with nausea and vomiting. They caused her hair to fall out and she was bedridden for several days after each treatment. I was with her, looking after her throughout all of this. I held her steady while she threw up and helped her to the bed afterward. There were times she soiled the bed when she couldn’t make it to the bathroom. I cleaned up afterward. She was my mother.”

That last statement caused Judith to feel as if she was going to cry.

“The doctors told us after all of this that the treatments had no effect, and the cancer had spread to her liver and brain. They suggested hospice care at home to help and I accepted. I took a leave from school during this period of time. They sent me my assignments and I completed them at home while I looked after her. “

At the end she was essentially unresponsive. She had lost weight down to ninety pounds. It hurt so bad to see her like that. She had been such a vital, beautiful woman before all this happened. I knew she was still there though, and I told her it was OK for her to let go. I told her not to hang on for my sake, that I would be fine. I told her that Dad was waiting for her on the other side and that she would be well, and whole and happy there; without any pain.”

Jake had tears streaming down his cheeks as he related this

“Mom and dad used to play the piano and sing when they were able to be together between deployments. I had recorded several of these times, so I put a set of headphones on her and played them for her. She got this look of absolute peace on her face. Twenty minutes later she passed away. My mom was gone. That was at the end of May.” 

He stopped talking for a few minutes while he tried to stop crying. “I miss my mom and dad”, he said.

Judith suggested Jake rest a minute so he could get composed (and so she would not start crying too). She leaned over and hugged him. She said that he looked like he could use it, and he agreed.

After a few minutes Jake continued.

“Something both mom AND dad ingrained in me from when I could understand it was family. Family is everything, but…mine was gone. They were both only children, both predeceased by their parents, so I had no one to go to. I turned eighteen on May fifth so I was able to make decisions for myself.”

“I tried to stay in Seattle, but I just couldn’t. Too much pain there. I looked to see who had the curriculum I needed to graduate, and here was the closest with the Advanced Placement courses I wanted. So…I moved here in August.”

“So you live alone here? Judith asked simply.

“Yes ma’am, he answered. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t know anybody, so…yes.”

“Please forgive the bluntness of the next question Jake, she continued, but I want to know…Would you take Susan back to your apartment with you?”

“For sex you mean?” he asked. Judith nodded yes.

He took a deep breath and answered…”A good reputation is difficult to keep ma’am, a bad one is impossible to get rid of. I’m not talking about mine either. I’m obviously already suspect, or you wouldn’t have asked that question. I’m talking about Susan’s. I wouldn’t do anything to cause hers to be ruined, so no, I won’t take her to my place alone.”

“As for sex...that's a deeply personal decision made between consenting adults who are ready to accept responsibility for the results of their actions. I'm not ready either emotionally, or maturity wise to do that, and I sincerely doubt Susan is either. Someone's virginity, mine or Susan's, is a gift that can be given away only once. I'm not ready to do that either.

Judith was satisfied with what she had heard. She let Jake know that she approved of him dating Susan for as long as she wanted to. She stressed that both she AND Susan were placing a lot of trust in him, something neither had done in a very long time. Jake told her that he never made promises he wasn’t sure he could keep, but he promised her that he would NEVER knowingly break the trust they were giving him. With that, she accepted his word.

Judith had held it together until Jake left, then she sat down and cried over the story she had just heard. It took her awhile before she could stop. 

Susan came home later that evening and found her mother very introspective. She had been with Sarah while she waited for Jake and her meeting end. She knew her mother could be very forceful and opinionated when it came to men, but she was completely surprised when she walked in and her mother told her that “That young man has a lot of character. You have my blessing to date him. You DO need to be gentle with him though. He is still grieving and has a great deal of stress on him. If it doesn't work out...please let him down gently.”

Susan was speechless. She had never heard her mother make statements such as that. All she could say was “Yes Ma'am!”


	5. A Good Start

Next morning Susan met Jake after calculus.

“I'm sorry you had to be subjected to the scrutiny of Judith Pompoms Jake, she said. Sometimes mom can go a little overboard when it comes to me.”

“No problem, he replied. We learned a lot about each other. She loves you very much and wants to be able to protect you if she can. I understand and respect that. I wish my mom and dad were still here to do that for me.”

As they arrived at Susan's next class she turned to him. “This is something I should have done before now…” She extended her hand and said “I'm Susan Pompoms and I'm please to meet you.” With that, they shook hands for the first time.

Jake arrived to pick up Susan at six thirty. The movie wasn't due to start until nine, but they wanted time to eat dinner and talk beforehand. Judith answered the doorbell and Jake thought “déjà vu all over again!” 

“Hello Jake!” she said as she invited him in.

“Hello Ms. Pompoms!” he replied noting an enthusiasm in her voice that hadn't been there Wednesday.

“Susan will be down in a few minutes, she is still getting ready, and you may call me Judith if you wish.”

“Oh...no ma'am, Jake replied. Mom and dad taught me to always use Mr. and Ms. when addressing adults older than me. They said it conveys respect and that's a habit I don't want to get out of.”

“In that case dear, you may continue to call me by that, she replied. You look very nice tonight, she added.” 

Jake had worn a light blue button down shirt, navy pants and tennis shoes. He had also added a very light cologne to top it off.

He thanked her for the compliment as they walked to the same room they had met in before.

When they sat down Jake asked her what time should he have Susan home. She replied that both Susan and he were responsible people and that a reasonable time after the movie would be sufficient.

A very short time later the two heard Susan coming down the stairs. Judith told her where they were and she met them there. Jake stood as she entered the doorway. She was dressed in a long dark green sweater, thick leggings and calf-length black riding style boots. Jake thought she looked stunning. 

“Wow, he exclaimed, you look beautiful!” Susan blushed at the compliment, while her mother smiled broadly. Susan asked if there were any last minute instructions they needed to know. There being none, they left for the evening.

Ms. Pompoms noted, with approval, that Jake held Susan’s car door for her as the got in, shutting it for her after she had. “Well, she thought to herself, it’s nice to see that there are a few gentlemen left around.”

After leaving, Jake asked Susan where she had picked for them to eat and she said an upscale Italian restaurant near the movie theater. As they were riding to the restaurant Jake rested his arm on the center console of his car. Susan shifted a little away and Jake took notice of this. He quickly moved his hand back to the steering wheel. Susan thanked him sheepishly and apologized. 

“I’m sorry Jake, she said. I still have a thing about touch and I may be a little jumpy about closeness until I get used to this. The handshake yesterday was a big step for me so please be patient.” 

Jakes said he understood. “I’ll make a deal with you, he said. Until you are ready to move forward with this, you are in the driver’s seat. When you feel comfortable with me being there, you let me know. Until then, I want you to call the shots…Deal?”

“That’s a deal Jake”, she answered happily.

They arrived and were seated in the restaurant. After ordering, Susan and Jake noticed several couples who were watching and discussing them at their tables. They were all students at Moperville North.  
“Why are these people interested in us?” he asked Susan. 

“Probably because they haven’t ever seen me on a date before, she answered. I’ve been to movies with Elliot for our film reviews, but not anything like tonight. This is something new for them and people are gonna be people. Try to ignore them.”

Oh...I’m not bothered by it, Jake returned. I’m sort of flattered that people are interested enough that I am with someone like you.”

“What’s so special about me?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“Are you kidding? You’re smart, funny, interesting, well-read and articulate. You have a caring heart. You were ready to take someone my size on when you thought I was bullying Ted the first day we met. And last but certainly not least…YOU’RE SMOKING HOT!” He emphasized. Any guy would be privileged to be with you. And DON’T sell yourself short. You truly ARE all these things.”

In the dimmed light of the restaurant Susan blushed greatly at the compliment she received. She felt as if her face were burning. 

“Thank you Jake, she returned. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me. I don’t get a lot of compliments from people because I tend to shy away. I don’t conform to their expectations of what I should be or how I should act, so I’m generally the butt of cruel jokes, or just nasty comments. It’s been said that I’m too tall and too lanky. People have suggested that I need to eat a sandwich. Most of these have been in the comments section of the film critique videos.”

“Some of these were because people believed that I am a lesbian and did it to gay bash, she continued. Tony was the primary originator in these, though he hasn’t said anything since you and he had your little talk in the hallway.”

“From what I’ve heard from you, he said, you seem able to take care of yourself quite readily.”

“I try, Jake, I try”, she returned.

Dinner was served and was delicious. They talked about school and other things. Each avoided the painful subjects of the other. Susan DID have a question for Jake she was curious about. In a low voice she asked it.

“Jake, you said you have the ability to repel people through making them feel fear or anxiety; do you have one that attracts?”

“Actually, I do, he replied, though I never use it. I did ONCE with results that scared me. I haven't tried again.” 

“What does it do”, Susan pressed.

Jake explained that, just like “repel” spell, his “attract” spell was chemical in nature, though generated by magic. It acted as a powerful pheromone. If used on males, it fostered feelings of friendship, camaraderie, and acceptance. If used on females, it fostered feelings of sexual desire as well as lowering the Inhibitions of the person affected by it. It would be a powerful aphrodisiac if enough were released in an enclosed area. 

Susan asked what would happen if only a small amount were released on a person. He replied that, theoretically, the effect would be the same, only greatly reduced in strength. He added that he was going on what his spell book had said because he hadn't used that ability except for the one time.

She asked him what happened and he replied that when he was eight, he accidentally released a moderate amount of “attract” while in class in school. What resulted was pandemonium in the classroom between the female and male students, as well as the teacher. An investigation revealed that SOMETHING had affected everyone in the room, but no one knew what. He told his parents and they advised him to NEVER use that spell in public. They also suggested that he release his “attract” each morning outside to prevent build ups of it and so it would dissipate harmlessly. He was able to stop performing the “dumps” several months later as the build ups had stopped. 

Jake told her that his spell book gave no reason for him to have that particular spell; just that he did. He surmised that possibly magic needs balance and that the “attract” was there to balance out the “repel” spells. That was just HIS opinion though.

“And you’ve never used this spell on anyone?” she asked.

“Except for that first time…no. Why do you ask?” he replied.

“Please don’t take this wrong, she continued, but this is the older, pre-male friend me thinking. If ever there was a spell made for a male, it’s this one.”

Jake took a deep breath, because this sort of statement hit him wrong, and he didn’t want to be angry or upset with his first date. So he composed himself and answered simply. “To use this on a woman, without her knowledge, would be JUST like giving them a date-rape drug like GHB or Rufie, and it would be just as wrong. This doesn’t just lower inhibitions, it obliterates them. Now, he continued, the book says that you can think through it, and fight off the effects if you know what is happening, but someone who is unprepared would have NO control and be completely helpless. That’s essentially what happened long ago. I don’t even care to think about that if I can help it. I was only eight at the time and I didn’t fully understand what happened. That’s why I stay away from using it. It is very powerful and the effects are unpredictable and difficult to control. I imagine magic gave me that spell because it knew I would never use it unless there was a very good reason, which I have yet to see.”

“Susan reached over and took Jake’s hand, which surprised him. “I apologize for bringing up that aspect of your magic Jake. I should have realized you would not have used something like that for selfish desires. I won’t make that mistake again.”

He smiled and squeezed her hand; he liked the feel of her hand in his. 

They both enjoyed the movie. Both were Sandra Bullock fans, they discovered, and she played the part well. When she was describing the death of her daughter, Jake said quietly to himself “No parent should have to bury their child”.

“Did you say something?” Susan asked, not quite catching what he had said.

“Not really, he replied, just a sad thought.” 

They treated themselves to a celebratory ice cream after the movie to mark a successful first date, then they started for Susan’s house. On the drive home, Susan reached over and took Jake’s hand again. 

“I’m working on it”, Susan said.

“I’m really glad you are”, Jake replied, and both giggled at that.

They walked to the door, still holding hands. On the front stoop they turned to each other…”I had a really good time tonight Jake, Susan said. I would like to do this again if you want to.”

“I had a really great time tonight too Susan, he replied, and I would love to go out with you again.”

With that she stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “That’s the most I can do right now Jake, she apologized.” 

Jake smiled broadly and held both her hands. “That’s more than enough for me”, he said, and bent down and kissed her on her cheek in return. Susan let him.

Once inside she let out a deep breath and giggled. She really had a great time and looked forward to more! As she headed upstairs to her bedroom, her mother called to her and asked how her date went. They spent the next hour laughing and talking. Something they hadn't done in quite a while.


	6. Taking Bigger Chances

The following Monday Susan and Jake met and walked in together. Jake thought he might try his luck and hold her hand, and she let him again. As they walked down the hallway Ted saw them and almost dropped his books with his surprise. Sarah’s mouth hung open and Catalina had a huge shit-eating grin on her face. Word got around that the “Hammer Queen” was involved with someone and it was big news. Both Jake AND Susan took it in stride.

Over the next several weeks they dated regularly either going to movies, eating out, or spending the evening at Susan's. They would hold hands mostly but lately she had been placing her arm around his waist with him doing the same with her; baby steps. One Friday Susan suggested they spend the evening at her home. She said her mother was going to be out of town at her sister's, visiting for the weekend and she wanted Jake to keep her company during the evening. She had an idea for the evening she wanted to try out. 

“That's a terrible idea Susan, Jake exclaimed. You want me to use my ‘attract’ spell on you even though I told you what happened the one time it was used?”

“You said you released a lot of it at one time, she returned. You also said that if it was done in small amounts, the effects were greatly reduced.”

“I said that's what the spell book said, he replied. I haven't experimented with it to be sure. Who would I even have tried it on?”

“I want you to try it on me, she said. You say that it reduces inhibitions. Well...I'm the most inhibited person I know and I'm tired of being that way. Other couples who've dated as long as we have are much more physical and intimate with each other. I want something like that, but my hang ups keep me from doing them. You have been so patient with me in this. I feel frustrated with myself and I want to do something about it.”

“But what happens if we go too far? Jake asked. Your mom is trusting me and I can't break that.”

“We’re not going to go too far, she said. First, you’re not affected by your own magic. Second, you said that the effects could be resisted. If either of us says no, then no means no. Third, you promised mom you wouldn't take me to YOUR house. This will be happening at mine. And lastly, if things start to go too far you can always use your ‘repel’ magic on me to counteract the ‘attract."

“I'm not comfortable using ANY magic on you Susan. My “repel” is a strong defensive spell used to protect me. I care about you and don't want to see you get hurt either physically or emotionally. I really can't believe we’re on the sides of this conversation that we are. I feel like you should be protesting me, not the other way around.”

“It will be fine Jake, Susan said. You said you wanted me in the driver's seat until I was comfortable having you there. Well…I'm putting you in the driver’s seat, and I trust you to keep things reasonable.”  
“What's your definition of reasonable?” he asked.

“Logically, anything that doesn't include pregnancy, bondage, or violence, she replied. I suspect nudity will be a factor in this for both of us.”

“And you’re OK with that?” he asked incredulously. Make no mistake, Jake was not being a prude in this. He just knew how Susan thought about things like this, or believed he had until now. It’s the smart ones that will fool you.

Susan replied that she was comfortable with the idea of being naked with him, as long as he was too, and her inhibitions had been lowered to an acceptable level.

“Just so I fully understand what you want...you want me to use on you, my spell that lowers or removes all inhibitions, and acts as an aphrodisiac for the purpose of physical intimacy between the two of us that you would otherwise be unable to have at this point. Did I get this right?”

“Yep!” Susan answered.

“You've really thought this out, haven't you?” he exclaimed.

“Yep!” she replied.

“I can't believe I'm going to agree to this”, he said. “You aren't taking any type of birth control are you?” he asked. She said no.

“I don't have any protection either, so we both have to be extremely responsible and cognizant of each other”, Jake said.

Susan agreed and they decided the time for him to come over. 

Jake arrived at the Pompom’s home that evening at five. He brought with him a bag of groceries that when Susan asked what for, he replied that if they were going to spend an extremely romantic evening together, he was going to cook her dinner too. She raised one eyebrow approvingly at that.

His cooking was excellent and she thoroughly enjoyed the meal. 

After they had cleaned and put away the dishes, Susan suggested they retire to her room. Jake suggested they choose any guestroom INSTEAD of her bedroom. When she asked why, he replied…”Your bedroom is your personal protected space, and it’s where you go when you want privacy. I wouldn’t dream of violating that privacy. To me, only married couples share a bedroom like this, any others can use a bedroom that isn’t so personal.” Susan was awed at the passion with which he expressed this so they chose a guestroom across the hallway from Susan’s room. Jake suggested Susan bring the telephone her mother called home on into the room with them, just in case.

He was more than just a little nervous. Jake asked Susan if she was sure her mother would be gone until Sunday evening as she had said. Susan replied that she was sure. She had driven her mother to the train station that morning and she had called several hours later saying she had arrived. Just to be sure, she had her mother put her aunt on the phone so she could say “hi”, just to verify she was there. One should never underestimate Judith Pompoms. 

Now reassured, Jake felt better about tonight’s activities. 

Susan locked all the external doors, activated the alarm system, and turned on lights on the main floor so the neighbors would believe that was where they were. Then she closed the door to the room they were in.

It was seven o’clock. Jake set his watch alarm for midnight. When Susan asked why he replied that there needed to be a cutoff time to allow the pheromone AND the effects on Susan to dissipate. He wasn’t fully sure how long it would take, but he figured two hours would probably be sufficient. He said the spell book was a little vague on times, but the gist was there. He needed to leave at two am in case nosy neighbors were keeping track. He thought that time was reasonable for a Friday night date night.

He also placed several towels and washcloths on the bedside table in case they were needed. Susan smiled at that and said that it was nice for him to be prepared.

They each took a shower before beginning. Per her request, each had changed into a pair of clean pajamas after showering and met in the guest room where they sat in chairs facing each other. Jake had turned the lights down to add a little mood to the evening and as they sat, he took Susan’s hands in his.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked.

“Yes”, she said simply, with a smile.

Jake slowly and carefully released a miniscule amount of the “attract” pheromone into the room…

After about a minute Susan said she didn’t feel any effects. She asked Jake if he was sure he had released any at all. He assured her that he had and that it probably had dissipated into the room immediately. He told her he was releasing a bit more…

She began to feel a warmth in her ears first, followed by her head and then radiating down her body. 

“Oooo!” she exclaimed, as the warmth overtook her entire body. “That feels good!”

Jake continued to concentrate on only releasing small amounts of pheromone at a time and monitoring the results.

Susan began to feel “not dizzy” but “not steady” either; maybe a little giddy as the aerosol began affect her more. 

Jake watched Susan’s skin as she began to develop a slight sheen of perspiration on the visible areas. As she got warmer, she unbuttoned several buttons of her shirt. He saw she wasn’t wearing a bra and her nipples were showing beneath the material.

In unbuttoning her top, Susan knew she was under the influence of the pheromone. This was something she would never normally have done in front of a man, but she felt SO…GOOD! 

“How are you doing Susan?” Jake asked, to which she answered, “I’m GOOD Jake, REALLY GOOD!”

“I’m just asking to be safe, but do you want me to stop?” he asked.

“Absolutely NOT!” she replied.

He continued to release pheromones.

As she got hotter, Susan started fanning herself with her hand, stood up, and removed her top completely. 

Her breasts weren’t small, but they weren’t huge and overpowering either, and were a size that Jake found extremely appealing. Her areolas were pink and her nipples were erect. Susan reached over and guided Jake’s hands to her breasts. As he cupped each globe he enjoyed the softness AND the firmness of each. Her nipples were hard and she moaned as he stroked each one. Her nipples weren’t the only thing getting hard in the room, and Jake had to adjust his position in the chair for comfort.

She leaned over and kissed him squarely on the mouth while embracing him as close to her body as she could. Jake kissed her back as passionately as she him. He gently inserted his tongue in her mouth and she responded in same; tongues rubbing gently on each other as they stood while still embraced. 

After a few minutes, Susan unbuttoned Jake’s shirt and both stood topless against each other in passionate embrace, as she rubbed her breasts against his chest eliciting moans of pleasure from both.

“Please finish taking off my clothes”, she said dreamily.

“Are you sure?” he asked, to which she responded “Oooh YES!”

He bent down on one knee noting the gentle curve of her stomach. He leaned over and gently kissed the area around her belly button causing moans of pleasure from Susan. With both hands Jake gently slid his thumbs into the waistband of her pajama bottoms and slowly moved them down over her hips, legs and onto the floor. Stood in front of him in just her panties. They were the black, high cut type that accentuated her hips. Jake was amazed at how statuesque she was even though Susan was five inches shorter than him. Her legs were toned and beautiful. If only those people who called her lanky could see her like this; that word would never be used to describe her again. He looked closely…Susan had shaved her legs for him! 

“All of them, please”, she continued.

As he ran one hand up her inner thigh reaching for her panties she came in front of him! Susan let out an audible groan and bent forward in ecstasy. 

“Oh…My…GOD!” she exclaimed as she pulled his head to her stomach. 

Sweat broke out over her body as her orgasm lasted about forty five seconds. Throughout this experience she stayed bent over holding Jakes head to her.

“Are you alright?” Jake asked almost comically, as he had never experienced anything like this before and was worried that he had hurt her in some way.

“Oh, YES Jake, I’m just fine!” she replied emphatically.

“Should I stop?” he asked. 

“DON’T. YOU. DARE!” she exclaimed.

He reached up and gently slid her underwear to the floor. Now she was totally naked before him. He stood to admire the form in front of him, and she was absolutely gorgeous. 

Susan went to both knees in front of her and removed his pajama bottoms AND underwear in one fell swoop.

Jake had a rock hard erection that was impossible to miss. “Oh…wow”, Susan could only say. 

She stood up and led Jake to the bed. As they lay down Jake reminded her that neither was using birth control. Susan assured him that she understood and was in complete control of herself.

They lay beside each other, caressing each other’s body and gently exploring each other’s most sensitive areas. Jake ran his hand over Susan’s Mons feeling how soft her hair was and also how wet she was for him. He bent over and gently sucked her right breast as he carefully inserted a finger in her vagina. He drew gentle circles around the orifice as she arched her back in delight. 

Susan gently reached between his legs and cupped his testicles in her hand. 

“Caaarefully…!” he said as she squeezed a little too forcefully.

“Oh…I’m so sorry!” she said as she eased her grip a bit. Neither was the least bit experienced at this, and mistakes would be made.

“That’s much better,” he replied.

She shifted her grip to his penis. It completely filled her hand, and she began to gently stroke his member up and down. 

“I’ll let you know if I’m getting ready to come,” he told her so she could grab one of the washcloths.

During his ministrations on her she came again, this time more forcefully than the first. She spread her legs wide to allow maximum accessibility at the same time thrusting her pelvis forward in response to his stimulation. 

Jake moved his upper body between her legs and carefully began licking her vulva. He reveled in the salty sweet musky taste of her secretions which only served to arouse him more. He varied the shapes he licked so as to provide a variety of stimulation.

As he went down on her, Susan responded by holding the sides of his head with her hands, and thrusting her pelvis more and more forcefully. He concentrated on her clitoris, as this was her most sensitive area. The softness of his tongue prevented the irritation that a finger could cause and enhanced the pleasure she was feeling.

“Oh God, That feels So Good!” she responded. 

The longer he performed cunnilingus with her, the more and more her orgasm began to build. She moaned softly at first, then more and more loudly as she neared her climax.

Finally her body couldn’t take any more and she experienced an explosive orgasm. “OOOOOOOHHHHooooooooooo!” she cried as she released. As this occurred, Jake moved upward and held her as the orgasm ran its course. After a few minutes she relaxed and lay in his arms. When he looked at her face she had tears on her cheeks where she had been softly crying.

“What’s wrong!?” Jake asked frantically. 

“That was the most wonderful thing I have ever felt in my life! Susan exclaimed through the tears. I have never felt ANYTHING like that before! “ 

He held her even tighter, luxuriating in her touch.

Susan asked Jake to please lay on his back and he did. She turned her body around so that her legs were to each side of his head and her pelvis was in his face, with hers facing his erection. With care, she took it in her mouth and begin to gently slide his member backwards and forward over the wetness of her tongue and palate. The feeling of lips and teeth against such a sensitive area was extremely stimulating to him and he moaned with each stroke. 

As she performed this, Jake reached up, grasped both of her ankles and spread her legs wide. He began licking her vulva again, which only increased Susan's ministrations with him. He cupped his hands around her buttocks and moved her hips and pelvis so he could penetrate as deeply with his tongue as he could. Susan emitted a loud satisfied groan as he did this.

She began to move his erection in her mouth more rapidly and as she did, Jake felt his climax building to its end.

“Susan...I'm going to…”he said as he reached for a cloth close at hand.

“Don't move!” she replied, as she moved his penis deeper into her mouth and grasped his shaft firmly. 

He held it as long as he could but finally he released into her mouth. Jake felt his semen squirt forcefully with each contraction as she continued to move him in and out of her. When he was spent, he relaxed backwards on the bed as Susan swallowed. “Oh My Sweet Lord” was all he could say.

She changed position so she could lay beside him and asked him playfully “How did I taste?”

He responded by kissing her passionately and inserting his tongue deeply into her mouth; she responded in same. Afterward he said simply…”Just like that, and now I know how I taste too!” They both grinned and drifted into a light and delightful sleep.

They lay snuggled together until Jake’s wrist alarm sounded. They were so comfortable together that they hated to get up. Jake had stopped releasing pheromone after his orgasm, so the overall effects were wearing off by that time. He still opened a window to air the room out though.

They both showered again, each in their own bathroom. Both were fully dressed when they came out.

“Was this a success for you Susan?” Jake asked. Despite his initial reservations, he had really hoped she would have gotten everything she had wanted from the night, and he had gone out of his way to make sure she had.

“OH YES Jake!” she answered. “It was everything, and much more than I could have hoped for. You took care of me, and watched over me. You were so attentive, so wonderful”, she said as she walked over, embraced him tightly, and kissed him.

“All the effects must not have worn off yet”, he said.

“That’s OK Jake, she returned. That’s not something I’ll ever worry about.”

He stayed at her house for about an hour longer as they washed the sheets and remade the bed. Jake noticed that Susan handled the soiled linen without any trepidation. They watched part of a movie until two o’clock then Jake said he should to go. Susan hugged him around the neck and kissed him at the front door; he didn’t even feel as if he were pressing his luck in doing so.

Sunday afternoon, after returning home Judith was resting on the main floor in a recliner. She kept hearing movement and music coming from upstairs. As she climbed the staircase she recognized the sound coming from Susan’s bedroom. Her door was open so she walked in. Susan was DANCING and SINGING in the middle of the room to a song coming from the ear buds she was wearing. She had her back to the door so she hadn’t seen her mother watching. 

Judith had not seen Susan do this since she was a little girl, before the divorce. “Oh My God…She’s in LOVE” she thought as walked back down stairs. When she returned to her chair she said to herself…”That boy is definitely good for her!”

Later when Susan came downstairs to join her mother, Judith crossed the room and hugged her daughter fiercely and kissed her on the forehead.

“What brought THAT on”, Susan asked surprised at her mother’s sudden, unexplained affection.

“I love you Susie!” she replied, reverting to the pet name Judith had given Susan many years before. “I want more than anything for you to be happy!” Judith had tears in her eyes as she said this.

“Mom…is everything alright?” Susan asked worriedly. Although her mother showed affection to her regularly, it was rarely done with this emotional intensity, and it scared her.

“Yes, sweetheart, she answered. Nothing is wrong, and for once, everything seems right.”

Susan returned the intensity of her mother’s embrace.

 

The following Monday, Susan and Jake met as usual at the front of the school. She gave a little peck on the cheek as they parted for their first class. 

“Hmmm…Jake thought. I thought the effects would have resolved by now.”

At their calculus class she was very animated and chatty. She said she had something to tell him but it was going to have to wait until lunch to do so, as class was starting.

She held hands with him in the hallway to her third class. She seemed much more vivacious than her normally reserved self.

At lunch, he sat with Elliot, Ted and Sarah; Susan hadn’t yet arrived. When she did, she plopped her tray on the table and planted a kiss right on Jake’s lips, in front of everyone! Ted dropped his silverware. All three of them stared, open-mouthed at Susan. “You Go Girl!” and “Get a Room!” came from the tables behind them. No one was more surprised than Jake.

“Uuuuh…Susan…are you OK?” he asked. 

“Absolutely!” she said. “Come with me for a moment!” As they got up to leave, Susan looked at her shocked friends and told them they would be right back.

They walked outside so sound wouldn’t carry far. She told him that since Friday night, her fears of touch, germs, expressing open feelings, in fact, all of the things that had inhibited her from being what she considered “normal” HAD NOT returned. She couldn’t explain it other than that. 

“It has been more than two days, and NOTHING!” she exclaimed. “NOTHING!” I even tried to do something that would bring them on like walking around the house in just my underwear, or handling spoiled food and not washing my hands afterward…NOTHING!”

“I wouldn’t have dreamed about kissing you like I did before, she continued. It was difficult just to kiss you on the cheek without feeling like I had to use mouthwash afterward. Now…LOOK, as she reached down and grabbed a hand full of dirt and rubbed both hands with it. I would be going into apoplexy if I had done this before Friday!”

“Wow! Jake said. I know the book said the duration of the affects would be different, but it never gave any kind of time limit…what if there is no time limit?” he pondered. “Stupid question, but humor me…Do you feel like you want to jump my bones right now?”

“JAKE! Susan said shocked. In public, absolutely NOT! In private…maaaybe?”

“OK, calm down, he said. That answers my question. You aren’t under the strong effects of the spell, but the more subtle effects are still there. Maybe they always will be, I just don’t know.”

“That’s not a bad thing, is it?” She asked worriedly.

“I don’t think so, he replied. You may need to get used to NOT having your inhibitions so high though. That had been the norm for you for a long time. Now…not so much, so you will have to set new norms for you.”

“Will you help me do this, Jake?” She asked.

“Of Course!” he replied. Now we better go back to lunch…that gang is going to have questions, and I’m not sure what to tell them.


	7. No Choice-Right Choice

It was December 15th in Moperville and snow had been falling on and off since the end of November. Everyone was looking forward to Christmas except Jake. This would be the first Christmas he would spend without at least one parent to be with. Judith and Susan were acutely cognizant of this and had invited him to spend Christmas with them. Neither could imagine spending this holiday without family.

Even though no one in the Pompoms family needed ANYTHING, Jake wanted to get them something as a Christmas present so he and Susan were in the mall shopping. 

Since the night he used his “attract” spell on Susan, the inhibitions and phobias that had plagued her had not returned. Essentially, through magic, he had been able to cure her of her unreasonable fear of touch, germs, as well as others such as closeness and intimacy. The cure of the last two had done wonders for their relationship in general and their sex life in particular. They hadn’t fully consummated their relationship, and were in absolutely no hurry to do so, but everything else was open to usage, and they had. Both were equally inexperienced with love and dating so they learned on each other what felt good, and what felt REALLY good. One of the things they liked best was to just walk, and either hold hands or wrap each other’s arm around the other’s waist. Closeness was one of the things they both craved the most. 

Jake had been accepted by the group of friends that Susan had enjoyed for the last year. They smiled and greeted him whenever any of them saw him, with or without Susan. All had noticed the change that had come over her since they had started dating, and they were all overjoyed for her. 

“Dating” was such a new word for Susan to use. Before a few months ago, she would have never considered dating anyone. In fact, on multiple occasions, and to at least two people who had asked her out, her reply had been “I Don’t Date!” Now, she it felt like she couldn’t imaging a time where she hadn’t been dating Jake.

Her mother Judith had also seen the evolution of her daughter from angsty seventeen year old to someone more confident, more self-assured, and more ready to let go and have fun…HAPPY, that’s what she was. She was happy, and Judith was thankful for that. She had made a mistake almost a year ago when she wished lesbianism on Susan so she would not be involved with men. This was a projection of Judith’s own anger and hurt, brought on by the betrayal of trust by her ex-husband.

Now she was definitely having second thoughts about men in general, all because of Jacob Thomas. He had shown that he had been trustworthy with her daughter. She knew they had been intimate, but they had been responsible also. When she had asked Susan about this, she didn’t go into detail, but had confirmed their relationship had moved to a higher level without “penetrative intercourse” as Susan put it. Jake had made a promise to her and had kept it. Judith was starting to reconsider her own situation as a result.

Susan and Jake met Nanase and Ellen in the mall food court. All memories of their first meeting in the parking garage had faded and they had even gone out on a double date once when Susan and Jake first started seeing each other, presumably to have fun, but in reality, the two “Pit Bulls in Lipstick” were checking him out to see if they approved of him being with one of their best friends. Jake had passed muster. 

While they were sitting and talking Nanase’s cellphone rang. On the screen it showed it was her mother Mrs. Kitsune. “I wonder what mom wants”, Nanase said as she answered. The others could hear Mrs. Kitsune’s voice over the ear speaker but couldn’t understand what was being said. What they did see was that all color had drained from Nanase’s face and her mouth formed a silent, horrified “O”.

“OH NO…she kept repeating as her mother continued to talk. Suddenly she hung up the phone, grabbed Ellen by the arm and said…”WE GOTTA GO…WE GOTTA GO NOW!” With that, both girls jumped up and ran for the exit.

“Something really bad has happened”, Susan said. She had never seen Nanase so upset! 

Susan immediately called Edward Verres, Ted’s father, to see if he knew what had occurred. He was Nanase’s uncle and a member of the local FBI in Moperville. He was also head of the Paranormal Diplomacy division there. If anyone had an answer to what was going on, he would. When he answered the phone he sounded rattled, something unheard of with Edward Verres. Susan asked him what had happened and he told her…

Akiko Kitsune is a normal eight year old who likes My Little Ponies, Rapunzel, and Panda’s. She worships her older sister Nanase, and loves Nanase’s girlfriend Ellen. She also loves, very much, her mother and father. She can be very intimidated by her mother though, and seems to talk with her father more easily since he is also intimidated by Mrs. Kitsune. 

She was playing in her front yard with several of her friends, sleigh riding down her hill. Mrs. Kitsune had been with them watching, but had gone inside to fix hot chocolate for the group. When she called them to come in all the kids went, with the exception of Akiko who wanted one more ride down the hill. Mrs. Kitsune had instructed the children to not ride while she wasn’t there to keep watch. Kids being kids, Akiko took one more ride down the hill. She misjudged the direction her sled would take, broke through a small snow wall at the bottom of the hill, and slid under the wheels of a large SUV traveling down the street, but unable to see her. Both sets of tires had run over Akiko. The only way the driver knew she had hit someone was that she heard the scream of the little girl as she was crushed.

Susan had her hand to her mouth as Edward related what happened. She asked how bad Akiko was hurt, but Edward could only choke out “Bad”. He told her Akiko had been taken to the Moperville Trauma Center, but her chances weren’t good. He was headed that way now. 

After hanging up Susan said that she needed to go to the hospital to be there for Nanase and Ellen, two of her best friends. She told Jake what had happened and he said he needed to come too.

They were silent during the ride. Jake had never seen Susan so upset. When they arrived they were shown into the trauma waiting area. None of her other friends were there yet. Susan figured that the family members, Ted, and Mr. Verres were already in the back. Jake asked the receptionist about Akiko, but was told only family was allowed in the treatment area. As they sat Susan noticed that Jake was thinking very intently about something, but he was not forthcoming. Suddenly he stood up and said “I have to get back there!” He told Susan to wait at the chairs. She was completely confused as to his behavior.

As the information desk cleared of people, Jake walked to the receptionist and released a healthy amount of “attract” pheromone into the cubical. As enclosed as it was, no one else was affected, but the receptionist was instantly gassed. He told her that he was family and needed to get into the treatment area right then. Under the influence of the chemical, she had no will to refuse and immediately buzzed him in. A shocked Susan saw him walk through the doors and out of the waiting area. The doors closed immediately behind him so they were separated. “What the hell just happened?” she said to herself.

A rule of thumb in being anywhere is that if you look like you belong there, people tend to leave you alone. Jake grabbed a white coat from a coatrack and put it on; camouflage. 

As Jake walked to the main trauma area, he passed a room where a team of doctors were talking with a family, and they weren’t taking it well. He saw Nanase in the room so he turned away to hide his face. Continuing down the hallway, treatment rooms were on both sides. Jake saw Ted in a large room with glass doors labeled Trauma 1. Only he and Grace were in the room and both looked like they had been crying. On the stretcher lay Akiko. She had multiple IV lines inserted in both arms, a cardiac monitor was connected to her chest and showed a pulse of 40. Even Jake knew this wasn’t good. An endotracheal tube was inserted through her mouth and into her trachea and connected to a ventilator to breath for her. She had a high stiff neck collar in place with straps across her forehead and chin to stabilize her head and neck. She was strapped to a thick plastic board that conformed to her body shape so as to immobilize her spine. There was terrible bruising to her face and he could see a trickle of blood coming from her ears. He knew even before he scanned her that her injuries were non-survivable. 

He walked into the room and sat down beside her. Both Ted and Grace were shocked to see him there and asked what he was doing there. He knew he didn’t have much time so he gave them a curt nod and took Akiko’s hand. Both looked at him incredulously but stayed still. Jake concentrated as he held her hand; he began to say, to no one…”Fractured skull, fractured cervical vertebrae at C2, transected spinal cord in the neck, fractured ribs, injured spleen, injured liver, multiple fractures to the pelvis, fractured left hip, and transected thoracic spinal cord. It read like a shopping list of things that could kill you. She had about twenty minutes to live, his magic told him.

“How do you know this?” Ted asked. Jake could only answer “I Just Know!” He pondered the situation for about two seconds. There was really only one thing he could do and he despaired over it. He leaned his head back, took a deep breath, and faced Grace and Ted. Jake was crying openly.

“I don’t have a lot of time. I can fix this, but I need the two of you to promise you will do something for me afterward. I need you to tell Susan how much I loved her. I loved her more than life! She has meant everything to me.” Both Ted and Grace realized he was talking in past tense. “I also need you to tell the same to her mother. She trusted me when she didn’t have to. She treated me as a member of her family when I had none. That’s something I won’t ever forget.” “Ever” being the next one minute, he thought to himself.

“But why? Grace asked plaintively. What are you going to do?”

“I can heal her injuries”, he said.

But why can’t you tell Susan and her mom those things?” Ted asked.

“Because I’m not going to live through it”, Jake answered simply.

Both Grace and Ted were stunned at what he said. Jake slowly placed his hand over Akiko’s heart. As he looked out of the glass he saw the Kitsune family, including Ted’s father come out of the consultation room and start toward Akiko’s treatment room. They had all been crying. Nanase and Ellen saw Jake with surprised expressions. He said quietly…“No parent should have to bury their child”, followed simply by…”heal”…

 

There was a silent, bright flash which temporarily blinded both Grace and Ted. The Kitsunes rushed to the room as did the staff thinking something had exploded. Jake was upright in the chair with a painful expression on his face, unseeing eyes were wide open. Slowly he slumped to the floor. Pandemonium erupted in the room as about ten people tried to pile in at once. Once they could see, Grace and Ted tried to tell his dad what had happened but couldn’t get close enough to speak to him. The staff saw Jake lying on the floor and immediately went to him…”HOLY SHIT, HE’s CODED!” someone said. They quickly lifted him off the floor and into the room beside Akiko’s as the “Code Blue” was sounded.

“OH MY GOODNESS” Mrs. Kitsune exclaimed at Akiko. Her facial bruising was gone, the lacerations to her face healed. Her eyes had opened and she looked wildly around, trying to pull out the endotracheal tube with hands that, before now, would never have moved again in the short time she had left to live. All staff and family in the room were dumbfounded at the apparent miracle that had occurred in the room.

“oh my god” Nanase could only say meekly at seeing her sister alive and well.

Ted finally reached his father and told him what had happened. He immediately raced out of the room and into the next where the code was being run. 

They say that hearing is the last sense to go and this was true as Jake lay lifeless on the stretcher.

................................................ONE AND TWO AND THREE AND FOUR AND FIVE AND SIX AND................................................................

..............................WHAT ARE WE SEEING ON THE MONITOR?............VFIB...........CLEAR!................CONTINUE CPR........

...................ONE AND TWO AND THREE AND FOUR AND FIVE AND SIX AND....................EPINEPHRINE 1 MILLIGRAM IV..........

....................WHAT ARE WE SEEING NOW?.......................ASYSTOLE...........SHIT!..................................continue cpr..............

.....c'mon big guy...you can do this!............give him another epinephrine 1milligram iv.......one and two and three and four and five and...

...............is anybody with him?..........you need to get them in here now!...........jake, it’s susan....i'm here jake, I’m here....................

...........how long have we been working on him?..........20 minutes..........jake, please don’t go, please don’t leave me "sob".................

...............how long now?........35 minutes.............asystole on the monitor.................been that way for 30 minutes...............................

...............ok guys, I don't want to, but call it.............time of death 1521 hours.............you guys can take everything out of him................

.....................................................................................so young....................................................................................................

 

.........................................................................THIS ONE INTERESTS ME............................................................................................

.......................................................YOU COULD HAVE WALKED AWAY, BUT YOU DIDN’T......................................................................

......................................................LOOKS LIKE YOU COULD USE A LITTLE JUMPSTART.........................................................................

...................................................EVERYONE BUCKLE UP! IT’S GONNA BE A BUMPY RIDE!........................................................................

......................................................................THIS MIGHT HURT A BIT................................................................................................

“AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!” Jake sat up eyes wide open and inhaled loudly as lungs that had been empty suddenly refilled. Both hands clutched his chest where over a half hour of CPR had been performed. Several ribs had broken and they were incredibly painful. Burn marks were on his chest from the defibrillations. Three staff members, Edward Verres, Ted, Grace, and Susan were in the room, all speechless and wild eyed! Jake closed his eyes, said “Owwww!” with a pained expression, and laid back down.

Twelve hours later Susan and Judith were in a regular hospital room with Jake. He had been moved out of the trauma area because a specialist in magical burnout, brought in by Edward Verres, had examined Jake and determined that he was in no danger of decompensating and was stable enough to be moved. He said the main thing Jake needed now was lots of rest so he could recover. This reminded Susan when Nanase had a similar episode with Abraham, the apprentice wizard. While they were keeping watch in the room, the two women had a chance to talk.

“You care about Jacob a great deal, don’t you Susie?” Judith asked. 

“I love Jake momma, she replied. I’ve NEVER felt this way before. I feel complete with him, whole and complete. I can’t imagine being without him. I almost died when they called off the code and pronounced him. I felt such anguish when I thought I wouldn’t ever see him again. I NEVER want to feel that way again.” She looked at her mother, Judith was smiling.

“You confirmed my suspicions, sweetheart. I love him too, in my own way, she said. He has helped you to be so happy over the last months, something I was afraid I had spoiled for you. I know I’ve had a horrible attitude with men. Jake has helped to prove I was mistaken in equating every man with your father. I want him to stay with us while he convalesces. He needs people who love him to care for him, and we are those people.”

Jake woke up and saw he was in a regular hospital room. The sun was shining brightly and reflecting off of the snow on the ground. As he looked around he saw that Susan was on the right side of his bed, and Judith was on the left, both appeared to be dozing. He reached over and took Susan's hand in his. She woke up instantly saying “Jake!” Judith heard her daughter stir and woke up also.

“How long have I been out?” he asked. The last thing he remembered was waking up in the trauma bay.

“One and a half days” Judith answered, taking his other hand. 

“Have the two of you been here all this time?” he asked.

“That’s what mother’s do.” Judith replied. Susan held his hand to her cheek. It was wet with tears.

“How is Akiko?” he worriedly inquired. 

“She is healed and well! Susan answered. The spell you used did the trick and she went home yesterday.” It took him a second to realize what she had just said in front of her mother. He got a panicked look on his face and could only say “Uuuuh” as he motioned with his eyes at her mother. Susan had a huge grin on her face as he did this.

“Several people have brought me up to speed on that subject Jake, she said. Though it will take a while for me to get used to it.”

“Oh wow!” he thought.

Susan leaned over and kissed him squarely on the lips. Then she punched him solidly on the arm eliciting an outraged “Oww!”

“What was that for!?” he asked. 

“For scaring the crap out of me with that stunt you pulled.” she answered 

“Oh”, he replied.

“Ted and Grace told us what you said…Judith began. I…I have no words adequate to reply to that,” she said as she began to tear up. 

“Well…I do!” said Susan as she leaned over and kissed him ardently on the lips again.

Jake convinced the Pompoms to go home to rest a bit as they had been in the hospital room for the last thirty six hours straight. He told them if anything happened he would call them. As they walked past the nurse’s desk they also told the staff to call them if they were needed for anything. Jake felt better that they were now taking care of themselves, so he lay back in the bed. It was a beautiful day outside.

A woman in scrubs walked in. She came over and sat beside his bed for a minute. “You don’t know me, she began quietly, and I doubt we’ll meet again, but I wanted to thank you for what you did for my grand godchild Akiko. You sacrificed yourself to save her without thought of your own survival. I know I said this before, but I’m not sure you were able to hear it; you were…almost gone. You could have walked away and no one would have known it.”

“I” would have known it ma’am, and you don’t look old enough to have a grandchild,” he replied.

“Looks can be deceiving, young man”, she said with a smile, and immediately shape-shifted to her true form. She was tall, blonde and imposing, but, she had a sweet smile. “My name is Pandora Chaos Raven. I’m an immortal, and I am forever in your debt.”

“No ma’am you are not!” Jake replied emphatically, to Pandora’s surprise.

“Whatever magic, or spell, or ability I used, was a gift. I don’t know if it was from an immortal, or God, or whoever…It was a gift, and gifts aren’t withheld from anyone who needs them. I knew the consequences of healing that little girl. You say I had a choice…NO…I…DIDN’T. There was only ONE choice for me, and that was to do the right thing. If I had “Walked Away” as you said, I would never have been able to look myself, my friends, that family, or the people I love in the face again. I would have been guilty of abandoning that child, and I would have been DAMNED for doing it. no…NO, I couldn’t just walk away. I took my chances doing the right thing. I’ll do it again if I have to, though I hope it never comes to that. Dying once is enough for me. It’s also horribly overrated.”

Pandora smiled at that last statement and replied…”I see I made the right choice in bringing you back from the brink! Well Jacob…you will die, eventually, but not from THAT spell. Using it the way you did burned it completely out of your body. It won’t ever come back, so you needn’t concern yourself. She then became serious again…

“You love the family you’re involved with.” This was more of a declaration than a question. “The Pompoms have been on my radar, so to speak, for a while. I won’t say why, but they have. You are good for them and they are for you. Be gentle with them. Both those women have great strength, but they are very vulnerable too. Treat them with grace and love and they will do the same with you.”

Pandora looked out of the doorway and said “I need to go now, but before I do, there is something I want to do first”…with that she leaned over and kissed Jake on the forehead, repeated “thank you” and vanished without a trace.

Edward Verres entered the room with the Kitsunes. He looked around as he entered and said…”I could have sworn I saw somebody else in here.”

Mr. and Mrs. Kitsune both took his hands and thanked him for healing their little girl. Nanase and Ellen gave him a hug and a kiss as they thanked him. Akiko shyly walked up to his bed and gave him a little-girl hug. Jake believed she was the cutest child he had ever seen! They stayed and talked for a while, then left. Edward stayed behind…

“Jacob…there are really no words to express how I feel, and I am a master at exposition. So I’ll just say Thank You…thank you”, he said with misty eyes. The doctor said you should be able to go home in a few days. She also said that you will need to be watched for a while to make sure there aren’t any complications. Just so you know, the Pompoms are going to tell you that you will be staying with them for a while, at least until you are fully recovered. Right now you need a lot of rest.”

Later after Susan and Judith returned, they were sitting in the room. Both looked refreshed after showering and getting a nap. They repeated what Edward had said about staying with them and he agreed; like there was even a chance he wouldn’t. As they sat there Jake looked at both them and told them how much he loved and cared for each of them…that they meant everything to him…and that the thing he despaired most when he made the decision to heal Akiko was that he believed he would never see them again. He told them that the happiest moment in his life was when he woke up and they were there. Both Susan and Judith listened in silence, then both embraced him tightly. He had family again…He knew he would never be alone again.


End file.
